Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-12-22
FARM NOTES.

There are in this country, according to
the government statistical bureau report,
AZ ,6l2 1856 head of hogs, breeding ami
mails and young pigs.
The ant is thought to be an enemy of
many injurious insects, particularly plant
lice which are so often destructive to the
foliage of apple trees.
In filling walls of sawdust whether for
silos, ice houses or root houses, the saw
dust should be dry and well packed down,
or it will shrink and settle and leave
empty spaces.
One pound of hay lost per day land on
many farms there are several) to each an
imal, the waste will amount to two tons
to every twenty. five head of cattle in the
foddering season.
The estimate is usually made that a
Leghorn or Hamburg cock may be mated
with fifteen hens; Wyandotte, Plymouth
Rock, Houdan or Langshan, with twelve;
a Minorca with fourteen, ard Brahma
or Cochin with ten.
An experienced dairyman says that he
would prefer to spend all the proceeds of
the dairy for feed during, say, February,
March and April, and look to the balance
of the year for profits, than to slack up
on feed, even with dry COWS.
Old leather contains considerable per-
centage of amonia compounds, which
| though said to be insolubie, are, in fact
very slowly soluble. A good way to dis,
! pose of old boots, therefore, is to bury
them at the foot of an apple tree.
DR.. Salmon says there are two conta-
| gious diseases known as hog cholera
one affecting the bowels, the other the
| lungs. The one is the genuine hog chol-
era, the other the swine plague. 1t is
| possible for the animal to have both dis
eases at the same time.
The usual rule is to save the milk at
the end of the fifth TO the seventh day
after calving. No fixed date can be given,
There should be no sign of feverishness
or Inflammation about the udder, ard the
peculiar milk of birth, known as
colustrum, should have entirely passed
away.
Many farmers who have an abundance
of straw are too careless ebout stacking
it. The stack should be we'll built, even
if one may intend to rot the straw. Dry
straw is comparatively light and easy to
handle, and it can be thrown from the
stack and scattered over the yard from
time to time without much trouble.
Allowing hay to remain out in q rain,
especially if partially made, should be
avoided as much as possible. Hay will
cure much more rapidly if it can be cut
without the presence of much dew or wet
upon it. When grown at the rate of six
tons per acre there is nutriment enough
in one acre of fodder, when re-enforoed
by three tons of bran and corn-meal, to
make 500 pounds of butter when fed to
| good, fresh COWS in comfortable q uarters
The value of ton of ordinary manure
is estimated at So, while a low price for a
| ton of commercial fertilizer is $50. The
| farmer must, therefore, handle ten times
| as much manure as fertilizers i'll order to
provide the same amount of plant food
In purchasing fertilizers the matter of
hauling and distributing the manure aid
fertilizers shoold, therefore, be consider
ed in the com arison of cost and benefit
to be derived from each.
In this country famine is almost i'm
possible. While drouths occur in some
sections rain is usually plentiful else
where. The past season was noted for
destruction from both droutks and fresh
cts at the same time. Crops are very
short in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa,
while in the Eastern States the yields
have been excellent. The time may yet
come when science will enable the far
mers to largely control the supply of
water reg uired.
Since the improved varieties of peaches
have taken the place of those that were
chance seedlings the trees have been
shorter lived. It has been claimed that
srees growing from the pit, and not
transplanted live much longer than
those that are removed when young TO
their permanent location. Some growers
are therefore planting the pits where
they wish the trees to grow, and budding
the stocks on the ground where they are
| to remain.